With two swings, the Red Sox broke out of their offensive funk and held off the Washington Nationals, 4-2.
Hunter Renfroe belted a three-run homer in the top of the sixth and Bobby Dalbec followed with a solo shot to provide the only runs the Sox would need.
Eduardo Rodriguez gave the Sox five shutout innings and five relievers took it from there with Hansel Robles nailing down the final three outs for the save.
WHO: Red Sox (89-60) vs. Washington Nationals (65-94)
WHEN: 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Nationals Park
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (11-8, 4.93) vs. LHP Josh Rogers (2-1, 2.73)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Schwarber LF
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Martinez RF
Renfroe CF
Dalbec 1B
Vazquez C
Rodriguez P
NATIONALS
Thomas CF
Escobar SS
Soto RF
Bell 1B
Ruiz C
Hernandez LF
Mercer 2B
Kieboom 3B
Rogers P
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B8: Another solo homer off the Boston bullpen -- this time, Jordy Mercer goes deep on Adam Ottavino.
T8: For the third time in the last two innings, Washington left fielder Andrew Stevenson makes a fantastic catch, coming in for a sliding catch to take a hit away from pitch-hitter Travis Shaw.
B7: Strong throw from Martinez in right cuts down Juan Soto attempting to go from first-to-third and the inning is over.
B7: Alcides Escobar hammers a fastball at the top of the zone from Matt Barnes and lines it into the visitor's bullpen.
B6: A walk and a single to start the Nats' sixth, so that's it for Rodriguez, who give them five-plus. Ryan Brasier on.
T6: Back-to-back homers from Hunter Renfroe and Bobby Dalbec, accounting for four runs. Big breakout for the Red Sox offense that had managed just two runs in the previous 14 innings.
B5: Rodriguez with another huge effort, fanning Juan Soto in an epic, eight-pitch at-bat, leaving a runner on base.
T5: Inexcusable lack of hustle on the part of Rodriguez, who pops up a bunt, but doesn't run out of the box, allowing Josh Rogers to let the bunt fall in and get the lead runner at second, and then, Rodriguez at first for a double play.
B4: Eduardo Rodriguez digs out of a bases loaded, no out jam, capped by a fabulous play at second by Kike Hernandez, who charges a slow roller and flips to Bobby Dalbec to nip Andrew Stevenson at first.
T3: For the third straight inning, the Sox wasted a baserunner, stranding a runner in each.
B1: Poor fundamentals by J.D. Martinez in right, who makes a lazy throw to third, allowing Juan Soto to move into scoring position.
WHAT'S UP: At 89-70 (.560), the Red Sox are tied with the Mariners for the AL’s 2nd Wild Card spot, 2.0 games behind NYY and 1.0 game ahead of TOR. The Sox are 1-5 in their last 6 games, on the heels of a 7-game winning streak...They went 14-11 in September and are 34-34 since the All-Star break...If today’s standings determined the Postseason field, the Red Sox would host the Mariners in a tiebreaker (Game 163), with the winner advancing to play the Yankees in the Wild Card Game in the Bronx. The Red Sox won their 2021 season series against TOR (10-9), NYY (10-9), and SEA (4-3)....The Red Sox need 1 more win to reach 90 for the season...It would be their 13th time winning 90+ games under the current ownership group (2002-present), including the 4th time in the last 6 years...The earliest the Red Sox could clinch a Postseason berth is Saturday. The Sox are looking to reach the Postseason for the first time since their 2018 World Series title season. In 20 seasons under the current ownership group (2002-present), the Sox have reached the Postseason 10 times (2003-05, ‘07-09, ‘13, ‘16-18)...Only 4 other franchises have reached the Posteason 10+ times in the last 20 years (ATL, LAD, NYY, STL)....The Red Sox have used 56 players this season, tied for their most in franchise history (also 2012). The Sox have used 33 pitchers, their most in franchise history...That does not include 4 position players who have pitched (Araúz, Arroyo, Gonzalez, Plawecki). 10 players have made their MLB debut with the Red Sox this season (Bazardo, Crawford, Duran, Espinal, López, Ort, Sawamura, Seabold, Whitlock, Wong....The Red Sox entered today with the AL’s largest increase in win % from 2020 (.400) to 2021 (.560). Boston’s .426 win % in 2012 (69-93) is the club’s lowest ever prior to a postseason campaign. ....The Red Sox are 13-4 against NL teams this season, after going 10-10 in each of the last 2 seasons (2019-20)...They are 276-184 (.600) all time against the NL, the highest Interleague winning % in MLB. The Sox have won each of their 3 series in NL ballparks this season (2-0 at NYM, 2-1 at PHI, 2-0 at ATL). This is the 7th season in which the Sox and Nationals are meeting in Interleague play (also 2006, ‘09, ‘12, ‘15, ‘18, and ‘20)...The Sox are 12-6 in the all-time series, including 5-1 at Nationals Park. ....In 21 plate appearances this season, Red Sox pitchers are 2-for-20 with 1 BB...Garrett Whitlock singled on 6/15 at ATL for his 1st career hit, snapping a streak of 34 PA without a hit for Sox pitchers...Nathan Eovaldi drew a walk on 5/22 at PHI and Garrett Richards doubled on 6/16 at ATL. .....In their last 18 games (beginning 9/8), the Sox have posted a 3.38 ERA (60 ER/159.2 IP)...In that time, they rank 3rd in the AL and 8th in the majors in ERA. Hansel Robles has made 13 consecutive scoreless appearances...During that stretch, which began 8/30, he has posted a 0.60 WHIP and held opponents to a .128 AVG (11.2 IP, 5-for-39, 2 BB, 16 SO). In his last 6 outings, Ryan Brasier has allowed 0 runs in 5.2 IP with a .067 opponent AVG (1-for-15, 1 BB, 4 SO). .....Matt Barnes made his 384th pitching appearance last night, passing Roger Clemens and moving into a tie with Derek Lowe for 5th most in Red Sox history. Barnes has appeared in 59 games this season...His next outing will make him the 1st pitcher in Sox history to appear in 60+ games in 5 different seasons (Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Timlin, Derek Lowe, and Dick Radatz all had 4 seasons of 60+ outings for the Sox)....The Red Sox have scored 3 runs or fewer in 5 of their last 6 games (3, 3, 3, 2, 6, 2), after scoring 6+ runs in each of their previous 7 games (8, 9, 7, 9, 8, 6, 12)... They still lead MLB in doubles (328) and XBH (563) and rank among the top 5 in runs per game (4th, 5.11), AVG (3rd, .261), SLG (2nd, .449), and OPS (3rd, .776). The Sox rank 9th in MLB with 213 HR...They have homered in 31 of their last 34 games; in that time (beginning 8/23), they rank 4th in MLB with 56 HR....In his last 18 games, J.D. Martinez has hit .313 with 11 XBH and a .962 OPS (21-for-67, 4 HR, 7 2B). The Sox are 22-3 this season when Martinez homers. Martinez has 99 RBI...He would be the only AL player to record 100+ RBI in 2018, 2019, and 2021; the only NL player to do that is Nolan Arenado. ....During his current 11-game hitting streak, Hunter Renfroe is batting .318 with a .975 OPS (14-for-44, 3 HR)...Since the All-Star break, he leads the Red Sox in HR (17), RBI (47), XBH (34), and runs (41)....Eduardo Rodriguez has allowed 2 runs or fewer in 4 of his 5 starts in September, including each of his last 3. He has allowed 0 HR in his last 3 starts. Is 4-2 with a 3.63 ERA (21 ER/52.0 IP) over 10 starts since the beginning of August....The Sox are 13-7 in his last 20 starts, and 63-24 (.724) since the beginning of 2018. As a hitter, Rodriguez is 0-for-23 in his career with 1 run scored and 3 sacrifice bunts. He ranks 2nd in the AL and 6th in MLB (1st among LHP) with 60 called third strikes.
NOTES:
* Playing in a National League ballpark, Alex Cora is sacrificing defense for offense, with an outfield alignment of Kyle Schwarber in left, Hunter Renfroe in CF and J.D. Martinez in RF. "We're trying to get instant offense,'' said Cora. "It's not the rangiest outfield, but they make plays. We're playing National League (rules); we have to make adjustments and that's what we decided to do. It is what it is. Having those three in the outfield, they'll be OK. They'll make good decisions. The hope is for the offense to wake up. We're an offensive team, and we're struggling offensively right now. The hope is to score a lot of runs. If we're patient and we don't chase, we feel that's going to be the case tonight.''
* RHP Garrett Whitlock (pectoral strain) threw a bullpen and the Sox are waiting to see how he recovers to determine when he might be activated. "We have to wait and see how he feels,'' said Cora. "I do believe he's going to be OK. Tomorrow or Sunday, whatever it is, we'll wait and see how he reacts.''
* LHP Josh Taylor has not been able to make much progress with a lower back strain and while he's with the club, he hasn't been cleared to start throwing. "He hasn't progressed the way we thought,'' Cora said. "Without throwing, we don't know. We have to be patient. As of now, I don't see, (being activated) is going to happen tomorrow.''
* The Sox are undecided on Saturday and could go with a bullpen game, or, turn to Tanner Houck as a starting options.